OSX and audio quality survey.

uxbuxb
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Greetings, Gurus!

I was wondering if anyone has done any comparison tests of audio quality in OSX(for audio recording apps ie. Logic). I ask this as I have been amazed at the differences in audio quality between various s/w on OS9-even those made by the same manufacturer (cubase, nuendo).

I realize that latency is dramatically reduced. I am intrigued at the possibilty of even better sound quality.

Thank you for your thoughts,



UXB

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 2
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    [quote]Originally posted by UXB:

    <strong>Greetings, Gurus!

    I was wondering if anyone has done any comparison tests of audio quality in OSX(for audio recording apps ie. Logic). I ask this as I have been amazed at the differences in audio quality between various s/w on OS9-even those made by the same manufacturer (cubase, nuendo).

    I realize that latency is dramatically reduced. I am intrigued at the possibilty of even better sound quality.

    Thank you for your thoughts,UXB</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Sound quality for computers is almost entirely dependent on input and output technologies. Once sound is in the computer and in digital form, the OS and hardware platform have very little to do with sound quality.



    Stock Macintosh have horrible sound via 1/8 inch stereo mini-jacks. However, professionals all use outboard DA converters connected via USB, firewire, SCSI, or PCI. Top notch versions of these are available for both Windows and Mac OSes.



    More importantly, how useable and productive are the audio programs available for OS X?
  • Reply 2 of 2
    uxbuxb Posts: 8member
    You would be surprised at the dramatic differences in audio apps. Many have different routines and dithers when implementing plugins which can have a deleterious effect on the sound (bit truncation, etc) not to mention how summing is implemented. Therefore, you will find very noticeable differences in audio apps "under the hood". Check out what happens to imaging and high end "smear" when comparing cubase VST 5.0/32 to Nuendo. Or, try mixing on a protools TDM environment (I know it's fixed point math, but an interesting comparison)-you can actually hear the difference just playing a stereo file back-depending on your monitoring setup.

    The aformentioned problems can then be exacerbated when adding more tracks, or tracks with dramatically different dynamics ie. a soft pad with a loud kik, depending on, again the implementation. While it seems a safe assumption that once it's digitized, all things are equal-provided the plugin standards, etc. are the same, reality is surprisingly different.

    I would be curious what others have found regarding apps in OSX, since it seems promising.

    Thanks again for your post.

    UXB
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